try downloading my updated launcher. that might help. also remove the .patch directory after you download the launcher. go to here for my updated launcher

I haven't done any of that yet, but I'll try it.

What I have done has gotten me closer to logging on. I formatted one of my hard drive partitions and did a clean install of STO on there with nothing else in the drive. I set the launcher to disable on-demand patching and downloaded 9 gigs worth of data. Then I ran the game:

This time the progress bar before the character screen got to a full one third of the way across before the game crashed on me again. Before, it would only get an inch or two across. I think the launcher update won't help at this point. The problem might be with the communication between the game client and the server.

You mean to say you can get past the launcher and click on the engage button and the screen changes to the cryptic logo and then the loading bar appears at the bottom?

That's not a connection problem. That's the game itself crashing. Something on your computer is preventing the game from running. Patching only runs on the launcher. Did you install any programs recently?